Research

Dead in the Water: Dead Zones Worldwide

Since the 1960s the number of oxygen-starved areas has doubled every decade, as human nitrogen production has outstripped natural sources.

About 75% of the world's fish stocks are already being overexploited, but UNEP (UN Environmental Program) says the dead zones, which now number nearly 150 worldwide, will probably prove a greater menace.

It quotes research by a team of scientists at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in the US.

They concluded: "The history and pattern of human disturbance in terrestrial, aquatic, coastal and oceanic ecosystems have brought us to a point at which oxygen depletion is likely to become the keystone impact for the 21st Century, replacing the 20th Century keystone of overfishing."